Some children traumatized in Russia's Beslan hostage crisis will receive convalescent treatment in China, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Beijing Thursday.
The MOU was signed by the Chinese and Russian health authorities in Beijing during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's visit to China.
According to the MOU, China will soon send a medical team to Russia to help diagnose and treat the children.
"Some of the children will come to China for free recuperative treatment," said Wang Liji, deputy director of the Department for International Cooperation under the Health Ministry.
Sources with China's Foreign Ministry said China was among the first countries to ship medical equipment, valued at 10 million yuan (about 1.23 million US dollars), to Russia aft the Beslan crisis took place. The Chinese Red Cross Society also offered a donation worth 100,000 US dollars to Russia.
On Sept. 1 of last year, a group of armed militants took over 1,000 hostages in a school in Beslan in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. The crisis ended on the third day after a fierce exchange of gunfire, leaving 335 people dead -- half of them children.
Source: Xinhua